Hip-toss ball game

ABSTRACT

A hip-toss ball game for pleasure and physical fitness including a relatively rigid shaft secured at one end to the body at the waist extending generally horizontally outwardly and having an open-topped, generally horizontally oriented basket at the opposite end, and a ball secured to the shaft, intermediate its ends, by a slip ring and elongated, flexible cord, the object being to drop the ball into the basket by manipulation of the body without use of the hands.

' United States Patent Inventor Anthony A. Haroski 134 Longfellow St., Middlesex, NJ. 08846 App]. No. 841,028 Filed July 11, 1969 Patented Oct. 5, 1971 HIP-TOSS BALL GAME 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 273/98, 273/D1G. 19, 46/51, 272/57 R Int. Cl A63b 67/00 Field of Search 272/57; 273/95, 96, 97, 98; 46/51 References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,110,497 11/1963 Browman 273/D1G. l9

3,200,536 8/1965 Petitto 273/DIG. 19 3,178,851 4/1965 Gage 273/DlG. i9 FOREIGN PATENTS 7/1960 France Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle Assistant Examiner-Marvin Siskind Att0meyPopper, Bain & Bobis ABSTRACT: A hip-toss ball game for pleasure and physical fitness including a relatively rigid shaft secured at one end to the body at the waist extending generally horizontally outwardly and having an open-topped, generally horizontally oriented basket at the opposite end, and a ball secured to the shaft, intermediate its ends, by a slip ring and elongated, flexible cord, the object being to drop the ball into the basket by manipulation of the body without use of the hands.

IIIP-TOSS BALL GAME BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Modem dance is frequently based upon rapid and supple gyrations of the body which the public appears to enjoy without substantial inhibition. In addition, such rapid and supple gyrations of the body contribute to physical fitness at least by stimulation of the cardial vascular system if not in addition thereto by forcing otherwise little used muscles through a full range of motion. Nevertheless, a dance floor and music are not always available to induce one to engage in such healthful, vigorous physical activity. Therefore, it is among the objects and advantages of the hip-toss ball game disclosed and claimed hereinto provide anextremelyinexpensive game or toy which will induce one to exercise the body without the necessity of a dance band and yet maintain interest by a challenging object to be achieved.

The present invention relates generally to games or toys attached to the body for manipulation by movement of the body without the use of hands. Basically, the game comprises a shaft secured at one end to the body at the waist extending generally horizontally outwardly and having an open-topped, generally horizontally oriented basket on the opposite end. A ball, nestable in the basket is secured to the shaft by means of a slip ring and an elongated, flexible cord. The object is to gyrate and manipulate the body without the use of the hands to swing the ball around the shaft on the slip ring causing it to rise above the basket and then to drop into the basket to be retained therein. In order to make the game more difficult and to require greater control of the body, the ball is secured to the shaft by means of a slip ring which is movable along the shaft and yet permits free rotation of the ball on the cord around the shaft. In addition, in order to further generate a challenge, the basket is made relatively shallow and of relative rigid material such that the ball will bounce out of the basket unless the body cushions the fall or drop into the basket.

Another principal object of the present invention is to provide a game which is extremely inexpensive and easily fabricated from readily available material, but nevertheless which is durable against damage or destruction by rough handling.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a game as aforesaid which is constructed in such a fashion to minimize the risk of injury to the user should the user fall to the ground.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION A hip-toss ball game attachable to the body and manipulateble by movement of the body without use of the hands comprising a shaft attachable at one end to the body at the waist and extending generally horizontally outwardly, an opentopped, generally horizontally oriented basket at the opposite end of the shaft, an elongated flexible cord attached to the shaft, means for attaching said cord to the shaft for free rotation about the shaft and translational movement along at least a portion of the shaft adjacent to the basket, and a ball attached to the opposite end of the cord and nestable in the basket.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION The objects and advantages aforesaid as well as other objects and advantages may be achieved by the hip-toss ball game claimed herein, a preferred embodiment of which is illustrated in the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a preferred embodiment of the hip-toss ball game claimed herein;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the game attached to the human body for manipulation.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the basket with the ball nested therein.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the hip-toss ball game comprises a pair of rods 11 and 12 having downturn legs 13 and 14 respectively on one end thereof. The downturn legs 13 and 14 are spaced apart from each other and are attached to a waist plate 15. Each of the legs passes through a pair of spaced apart vertically aligned slits, respectively 17 and 18 and 19 and 20 in the waist plate 15.

The rods 11 and 12 extend outwardly from the waist plate 15 and converge to engage each other to collectively define a shaft 21. A circular hoop 22 is formed on the external ends of the shaft 21. The plane of the hoop 22 is generally coincidental of the plane of the rods 11 and 12.

A basket 23 is detachably secured to the hoop 22. The basket 23 is relatively shallow and is fabricated of a relatively rigid plastic material. In addition, the basket 23 may be formed of a plurality of ribs 24-24,. extending downwardly from a top rim 25 and merging into a bottom 26.

A slip ring 27 is mounted on the shaft 21. An elongated, flexible cord 28 is attached at one end to the slip ring 27 and at the opposite end to a ball 29. The ball 29 is nestable in the basket 23. However, the ball 29 is fabricated of plastic or some other suitable relatively rigid material. In addition, while the ball 29 nests in the basket 23, the basket 23 is less than half of the diameter of the ball 29. Thus, there is little or no tendency for the ball 29 to be trapped in the basket 23 by dropping down into the recess of the basket 23 below the midpoint of the ball 29. This construction of the basket and ball makes the ball relatively freely dischargeable from the basket 23 particularly by the interresilience between the said ball and basket. 1

A belt 30 is also secured to the waist plate 15 for attaching the waist plate 15 to the body.

In operation, the waist plate 15 is positioned on the body, at the waist and in front of the body. The waist plate 15 is secured in place by the belt 30.

In operation, the belt 30 is secured around the waist of the body as illustrated in FIG. 2 with the waist plate 15 positioned in the front of the body. The rods 11 and 12 extend outwardly and generally horizontally from the body. The hips and torso of the body are then gyrated to cause oscillation of the ball 29 on the cord 28. Since the cord 28is secured to the shaft 21 by means of a slip ring 27, the ball 29 is able to rotate rapidly around the shaft 21 without wrapping the cord 28. In addition, the slip ring 27 may move longitudinally along the shaft 21 so that the plane of rotation of the ball 29 about the shaft 21 may be altered to bring it closer and farther away from the basket 23.

The object is to swing the ball 29 in an are such that the plane of the arc passes through the basket 23. By careful manipulation, the ball may be caused to rise to a position above the basket 23 and then drop vertically downwardly under the influence of gravity into the basket 23. In addition, the combination of swinging movement and gravitational forces can be employed to drop the ball 29 into the basket 23.

A deep basket or one fabricated of a cord mesh would tend to rapidly trap the ball 29. Therefore, in order to render the game more difficult and challenging, the basket 23 is fabricated of a relatively hard material, preferably plastic. In addition, the basket 23 is relatively shallow as compared to the size of the ball so that there is a tendency for the ball to bounce out of the basket unless the body is maneuvered to cushion the engagement between the basket and ball.

Since the game requires supple and vigorous movement of the body, there is always danger that one might fall. The game disclosed and claimed herein includes a construction which minimizes the danger of bodily injury due to a fall. The rods 11 and 12 are spaced apart a relatively wide distance where at tached to the waist plate 15. Thus, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to ram either of the rods 11 and 12 into the .abdomen should the person fall forwardly. Moreover, the rods 11 and 12 permit a degree of flexibility in a vertical plane. In addition, the legs 13 and 14 provide a flat engagement to the body rather than the end engagement which would be generated by the use of a single shaft in end-to-end butting relationship with the waist plate 15.

The bifurcation of the rods 11 and 12 limit the extent of movement of the ring 27 in the direction of the body. This is advantageous since the plane of swing of the ball 29 must be reasonably spaced away from the body to prevent the ball from striking the body and thereby hampering its manipulation into the basket 23.

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate an embodiment of the invention. The component parts have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutes or the said components and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention; these substitutes are contemplated as being within the scope of the appended claims although they are not specifically cataloged herein.

I claim:

1. A hip toss game attachable to the body and manipulatable by movement of the body without the use of the hands comprising:

a. a shaft attachable at one end to the body at the waist and extending generally horizontally outwardly, means for stabilizing the shaft against substantial deflection at the body,

b. an open-topped, generally horizontally orientated basket at the end of the shaft opposite said one end,

c. an elongated flexible cord secured to said shaft by means of a slip ring mounted on the shaft giving the cord freedom for translational movement along a portion of the shaft adjacent the basket, and

d. a ball attached to the opposite end of the cord and nestable in the basket.

2. The structure in accordance with claim 1 in which,

a. the said shaft bifurcates into two spaced apart shafts where attached to the body.

3. The structure in accordance with claim 1 in which,

a. a single shaft attached is to the basket, and

b. a pair of generally horizontal diverging shafts extend from the single shaft toward the body, engaging the body at spaced apart points.

4. The structure in accordance with claim 3, and

a. a downtumed leg on each of the diverging shafts at the body.

5. The structure in accordance with claim 3, in which,

a. the depth of the basket is less than approximately one half of the diameter of the ball.

6. The structure in accordance with claim 4 in which,

a. the basket is relatively rigid and has a depth less than its diameter. 

1. A hip toss game attachable to the body and manipulatable by movement of the body without the use of the hands comprising: a. a shaft attachable at one end to the body at the waist and extending generally horizontally outwardly, means for stabilizing the shaft against substantial deflection at the body, b. an open-topped, generally horizontally orientated basket at the end of the shaft opposite said one end, c. an elongated flexible cord secured to said shaft by means of a slip ring mounted on the shaft giving the cord freedom for translational movement along a portion of the shaft adjacent the basket, and d. a ball attached to the opposite end of the cord and nestable in the basket.
 2. The structure in accordance with claim 1 in which, a. the said shaft bifurcates into two spaced apart shafts where attached to the body.
 3. The structure in accordance with claim 1 in which, a. a single shaft attached is to the basket, and b. a pair of generally horizontal diverging shafts extend from the single shaft toward the body, engaging the body at spaced apart points.
 4. The structure in accordance with claim 3, and a. a downturned leg on each of the diverging shafts at the body.
 5. The structure in accordance with claim 3, in which, a. the depth of the basket is less than approximately one half of the diameter of the ball.
 6. The structure in accordance with claim 4 in which, a. the basket is relatively rigid and has a depth less than its diameter. 